Phillies: Papelbon blows save, but Galvis walks off

Philadelphia Phillies' Freddy Galvis leaps to touch home plate after hitting a home run with his teammates around him during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013, in Philadelphia. The Phillies won 6-5. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

PHILADELPHIA — A big-league hit had been a long time coming for Freddy Galvis.

He didn’t have one in his final nine at-bats before he was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley in late June, and in his first two starts after returning as a September call-up, he had gone 0-for-7.

Saturday night, he finally broke the ice – broke it with a sledgehammer.

After Jonathan Papelbon had blown a two-run lead in the ninth by giving up a two-run, two-out, two-strike homer to Andrelton Simmons, Galvis stepped in against Freddy Garcia in the bottom of the ninth and launched a walk-off homer deep into the right-field seats to give the Phillies a 6-5 win over the Braves at Citizens Bank Park.

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Even before that thrilling finish became necessary, Galvis had been the story.

It had been a long, barren slog at the plate in the majors for Galvis. He was hitting .298 May 19 while serving as a super-utility player during the first six weeks of the season. However, when Chase Utley landed on the disabled list with a strained oblique and Galvis became the regular at second base, his swing got longer and his average started to drop. He entered Saturday batting .197 for the Phillies, with just 14 hits in his last 100 at-bats when he was placed in the lineup at shortstop Saturday.

In his first plate appearance, Galvis legged out an infield single against Atlanta starter Alex Wood. Then, in the fifth inning it was Galvis’ two-run, two-out single to center in the fifth inning that gave the Phillies a 4-2 lead. He added another single in the seventh to tie his career high with three hits in a game.

It turned out Galvis would get a chance to set a new career high when Simmons fouled off four pitches against Papelbon before lining a ball that just cleared the left-field fence.

After taking a first-pitch ball from Garcia, Galvis sat on a high changeup and powdered it into the seats for his second walk-off homer of the season.